Vista's McClure has jump-start on his future

By Boyce Garrison, SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE
| 12:04 a.m.May 16, 2010

Stefan McClure’s leap of leap of 48 feet, 3 inches, in the triple jump is the third-best mark in the state this season. The Vista High junior is also a standout in football.
— Charlie Neuman / UNION-TRIBUNE

Stefan McClure’s leap of leap of 48 feet, 3 inches, in the triple jump is the third-best mark in the state this season. The Vista High junior is also a standout in football.
— Charlie Neuman / UNION-TRIBUNE

His father, Al, was a track star at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His mother, Zina, was a McDonald’s All-America high school basketball player who also played at UNLV.

Stefan, a Vista High junior, is more than proficient in track and football.

Heading into last week’s Palomar League finals, Stefan owned the San Diego Section’s best mark this spring in the triple jump with a leap of 48 feet, 3 inches at the April 24 Grizzly Invitational Relays at Mission Hills High School.

The mark is third-best in the state this season and topped his dad’s best, 47-6, also at Vista.

“He pretty much knew it was going to happen,” Stefan said. “He took it pretty well.”

Al McClure gets to watch his son’s exploits up close. He is the sprint coach at Vista.

“People tell me, ‘Your son looks just like you,’ and you laugh about it because you can’t quite see it,” Al McClure said. “Then you see him out there some days and you say, ‘Yeah, he runs just like I do.’ ”

Lucien Hardy, the Panthers jump coach and a former high school football coach who runs a flag football league for the city of Vista, described the younger McClure is a “shutdown corner.”

McClure is being recruited as a wide receiver or cornerback by UCLA, Washington, Oregon State, Colorado, Colorado State, San Diego State, Minnesota and Boise State, which recently sent two defensive coaches to visit the Panthers standout.

McClure said he hopes Oregon comes around because the Ducks have good track and football programs.

“I don’t have any favorite that I want to go to,” he said. “I know that I want to go somewhere that will let me do track and football.”

McClure is glad he doesn’t have to choose between the sports, each of which he likes for different reasons.

“In track what you put into it, you get out of it,” he said. “There’s team stuff in it, but it’s mostly about the individual. In football, I love the one-on-one competition. Someone is depending on you to do your job for everyone to reach a goal. And you get to run around and hit people and score touchdowns.”

Stefan is 5 feet 11 and weighs 167 pounds. He’s been told by college football coaches that he needs to put on a little more muscle, get to about 175 by the start of next football season, then up to 185 by the time he’s a college freshman.

He played last season with a shifted kneecap and had arthroscopic surgery in December, five days after Vista’s loss in the section Division I final.

Stefan and Vista track coach Trevor Sybert hope the San Diego Section track finals May 29 turn out a little differently. The prelims are Saturday.

“He’s put in the hard work and we really think he can go 49 (feet),” Sybert said. “He’s peaking at the right time. Who knows, maybe he can win a state title.”